I don’t understand why Bafana do not qualify for the World Cup‚ says Burkina Faso coach

Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte has many reasons for being mystified as to why Bafana Bafana‚ his side’s opponents in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier at FNB Stadium‚ cannot qualify more often for major tournaments.

In fact he has four of them.

That’s the amount of games where Duarte has faced South African teams and not won‚ losing three of those.

Duarte has met Bafana twice‚ in a 3-0 friendly defeat to Pitso Mosimane’s team at Ellis Park in 2011‚ and then in the 1-1 draw to Shakes Mashaba’s side in Ouagadougou in these Russia 2018 qualifiers in October last year.

He was also coach of Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien side who lost 1-0 at home and 2-0 away in the group stage of the 2015 Caf Confederation Cup against Eric Tinkler’s eventual finalists Orlando Pirates.

All those experiences have left 48-year-old Portuguese Duarte baffled as to the reason for Bafana not performing better.

“I say all the time that I don’t understand why South Africa do not have the results‚” the coach said.

“You have so many good players but every time you don’t have qualification.

"If you have the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations in your home you play.

“If you ask me if the team today is better than five years ago I would tell you‚ ‘No’.

"But you have good players‚ good conditions‚ a good league.

"But also the reality is that you don’t have good results.”

Duarte arrived early in South Africa for a qualifier that‚ if Burkina can win‚ could leave his side in the driving seat in a Group D of swinging fortunes.

He watched SuperSport United’s Confed Cup semifinal first leg 1-1 draw against Tunisia’s Club Africain in Atteridgeville on Sunday.

SuperSport‚ the recent club of Bafana coach Stuart Baxter‚ have a number of players in the national squad.

Asked about coming to SA early‚ Duarte said: “If I have the chance‚ yes. But before I say anything else let me say that any team in this group can qualify.

“Burkina Faso have first place‚ but we have to win the next match. And the next match is against South Africa.”

Burkina Faso and Cape Verde‚ on four games each‚ have six points in Group D‚ while‚ having played three games each‚ Senegal have five and South Africa one.

Bafana need to win their remaining three games to stand a chance of qualifying